Pizza De Provencale

Being that I worked in a pizza restaurant for a good long time, I’m kind of a pizza snob. It wasn’t a Dominoes or a Papa Johns or even Pizza Hut. Ick. No, the piza place I grew up in was in a resort town and had customers that came from around the world. There were 8 pizza places in town at the time. The place I worked did about 75% of the entire pizza business in town. We were that good. Hell, in the winter a delivery could take up to 2 hours from order to door because we’d get so busy and backed up.

Today’s pizza recipe is not from my alma mater. No, that recipe is reserved for my subscription peeps. That’s not to say that this recipe for a different style of pizza isn’t good. In fact it’s great. I love it and it’s a great quick thing when I have limited time for making dough.

Ingredients*:

    1. 1 – French Baguette roughly 20 inches long
    2. 4 – tsps Olive Oil
    3. 1 – medium Yellow Onion
    4. 1/2 – tsp dried crumbled Rosemary
    5. 1/2 – tsp dried crumbled Thyme
    6. 1/4 – tsp Salt
    7. 1/4 – tsp Black Pepper
    8. 3/4 – cup chopped Roma Tomatoes
    9. 2 – Cloves Garlic minced
    10. 2 – medium Tomatoes thinly sliced
    11. Several Black Olives pitted and sliced
    12. 2 – tbsp fresh grated Parmesan Cheese

Preparation:

Start off with preheating the broiler and setting the rack about 6 inches from the heat. Cut the baguette into four pieces then open each in halves. Arrange the bread open side up on a baking sheet and toast until golden brown in the broiler.

Now preheat the oven to 450˚F. In a medium sized skillet heat half the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the Onion, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Sauté until the onion is golden brown. Add the chopped tomatoes and garlic. Continue stirring and cooking sauce until it thickens, roughly 2 minutes.

Spread the onion tomato sauce evenly on the pieces of baguette. Top with the thinly sliced tomatoes, add the sliced olives and shredded parmesan. Drizzle the remaining olive oil on top. Bake the pizza in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly toasty.

Cue the screaming guitars and slam! You’ve got a fantastic dinner pizza without waiting for dough to rise!

Prep Time: 20 minutes. Total Cook Time: 15-20 minutes.

* Organic ingredients are best. Fresh baguettes can be had at most stores, if you don’t make it yourself. Fresh organic tomatoes and onions are awesome, most stores have them now. Same with the garlic and herbs, even better – grow ’em yourself. Fresh parmesan cheese that you shred yourself is ideal, especially from non-hormone injected cows!